Photos: First Look at ANGELS IN AMERICA at Madison Lyric Stage

Madison Lyric Stage, a professional theater company serving the Connecticut shoreline, is currently presenting Tony Kushner’s award-winning Angels in America: Part I, Millennium Approaches, through June 18.  One of the great epic American plays of this past century, this groundbreaking work explores the lives of a handful of people trying to make sense of the world.  The epic ranges from earth to heaven; focuses on politics, sex and religion; travels to Washington, the Kremlin, the South Bronx, Salt Lake City and Antarctica; switches between realism and fantasy; combines uproarious humor with deep pathos, and explores the tragedy of AIDS.

Check out the production photos below!

Angels in America, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, is a two-part epic that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993.  It is widely regarded as one of the most important plays of the 20th century and has been praised for its themes of love, loss, and the human condition.  A Tony Award-winner, HBO adapted Angels in America into an Emmy Award-winning film. MLS will present Part I of Tony Kushner’s masterwork in 2023, with the intent to present the full work in 2024.

“We are thrilled to bring Angels in America, with its subtitle A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, to our audiences, especially during June’s Pride Month,” said Marc Deaton, artistic director of Madison Lyric Stage.  “This play is a daring and powerful reminder of the struggles that people faced during the AIDS epidemic and the importance of love and community in the face of adversity.”

Angels in America will be presented in association with the New Haven Pride Center, and a portion of all ticket sales will benefit the Center’s youth programming.

Audiences are invited to arrive before the performance to enjoy music of the ‘80s, along with a signature cocktail and other drinks.

Tickets are $55 and can be purchased by visiting madisonlyricstage.org, or by calling 203-215-6329.  Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m.  Performances will be held inside MLS’s brand-new enclosed tent on the grounds of the Deacon John Grave House located at 581 Boston Post Road in Madison.

In addition to Angels in America, MLS’s 2023 mainstage also features Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater’s electrifying rock musical Spring Awakening in July, and Climb Every Mountain: An Evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein in September.  A subscription for all three is available for $135. 

Additionally, MLS will present three Studio Series productions: Marc Deaton in Postcards from Pierrot in June; Elegy for a Fallen Angel, a new play with music in August; and Maidens, Witches and Femme Fatales … The Women of Opera in October.  A subscription for these three productions is $90.

Madison Lyric Stage is supported in part by generous gifts from Chase, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Guilford Savings Bank, the Maureen E. and Peter F. Dalton Fund of The Madison Foundation, and the Madison Rotary Foundation, along with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Support has also been provided from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.

Madison Lyric Stage is an award-winning, professional theater company serving the Connecticut shoreline.  Its mission is to expand participation in the arts by presenting accessible, inclusive and affordable professional-quality opera, musical theater and drama.

For more information about Madison Lyric Stage, visit madisonlyricstage.org.